Manufacturers of cleaning liquids, particularly industrial cleaning fluids for cleaning work areas, floors, washrooms and the like, generally package their liquid cleaning products in a concentrated form to save expense in storage and transportation, and to conserve storage space until use.
In proportioning (i.e. diluting) systems, a concentrated solution is diluted with tap water on site to achieve a desired use concentration. It is desirable to measure, fairly accurately, the amount of the cleaning liquid to achieve the desired solution level set by the manufacturer.
One plastic bottle used for manually measuring a desired quantity of cleaning liquid and then dispensing the measured quantity while preventing spilling or dispensing of the main reservoir of cleaning liquid is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,843. A similar container for measuring and dispensing liquid is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,673. Both of the measuring/dispensing liquid containers disclosed in these patents is suitable for storing a larger quantity of liquid concentrate in a main reservoir and then transferring a controlled, limited amount of the liquid concentrate to a graduated measuring cup or receptacle from which the measured quantity is dispensed manually to a bucket or other container of tap water without dispensing additional liquid from the main liquid concentrate reservoir. In both of the known devices identified above, a plastic “squeeze” bottle is used. By this, it is meant that the main liquid reservoir has walls which are resiliently flexible (“squeezable”), preferably made of plastic material, such that the user may squeeze opposing walls defining the main liquid reservoir and thereby transfer a measured amount of liquid to the dispensing receptacle while viewing the amount of liquid accumulating in the dispensing receptacle which is graduated for accurately measuring the desired quantity of liquid to be dispensed. The transfer of liquid from the main reservoir to the dispensing receptacle is accomplished through a transfer tube having an inlet opening located adjacent the bottom of the main liquid reservoir and an outlet opening communicating with an upper portion of the dispensing receptacle.
During the transfer stage, a closure cap is opened slightly to permit venting of air originally in the dispensing receptacle during the transfer of the desired quantity of liquid concentrate from the main liquid reservoir to the dispensing receptacle.
Typically, in prior art containers, the dispensing receptacle is located above the main liquid reservoir and originally in fluid communication with the main liquid reservoir by means of an open throat in the bottle. The container is originally filled through the open throat which is then closed by a plug or the like so that the container in the hands of the user has the main liquid reservoir which closed except for communication with the transfer tube, and a dispensing receptacle which has a closed bottom for holding the transferred liquid.